Faux Frog Terrarium

Friday, February 25, 2022

Faux Frog Terrarium

I had an idea that using resin and a few dollar store toys, I could make a fun faux terrarium for my son to keep on his desk. Read on to see how you can do it too:

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Starting with a sturdy glass bowl that I picked up at the thrift store, I placed some pretty stones off to the side. These stones will be the 'land' side of the terrarium, so I made sure to glue them in place for stability.

Next I added in some faux grass and tiny logs. The grass was a yard sale find while the logs can be purchased from Dollar Tree. I positioned the logs out in the open area so that the frogs can have a place to climb out in the water.

(You can click here to browse Dollar Tree's online selection of craft supplies)

Next I added a couple of frogs to the part of the terrarium that will contain water. Keep in mind that because the 'water' will be made of resin, anything placed within that area will be unable to move once the resin has cured. I wanted it to look like a couple of frogs were hanging out partially submerged, but also wanted my son to be able to play with the finished piece. For this reason I made sure to keep a few frogs off to the side for later.

Using Woodland Scenics Realistic Water (Amazon) and a bit of brown acrylic paint, I mixed up what looked like a mud puddle and poured it in...

Gross, huh? 😄

I was careful not to completely cover the toy frogs, but added enough resin that they would stay in place.

Note: This particular brand of resin is great for shallow displays only, with a maximum depth of 1/8" per layer. While you don't have to mix the resin (it comes ready to pour), you do need to be careful not to pour it too deep. According to the instructions you can add additional layers of the resin on top of one another though I haven't tried it myself.

Here is another time where I used this type of resin:

Decorative Carrot Soup

And here is how the completed terrarium looks with the resin fully cured. Still swampy, but clearer and prettier. My favorite part are the loose frog toys, as they can be moved around during play.

Inspired by the terrarium, I decided to try a fish bowl too. Can you see the large green fish toy? He's in there! For this one I positioned a layer of pebbles, 'planted' some faux fish tank plants and then nestled a large fish toy into the bed of rocks. It was so pretty at first...

Unfortunately, this is the only angle that the fish is visible from. During the curing process air began to release from the mouth of the toy, creating a large air bubble that led to a crack right down the middle of the resin. I was soooo mad! Once the resin is mixed, poured and beginning it's process of curing, there is nothing you can do. I had to just watch and wait to see what would happen!

Turning the bowl on this angle looks ok, but if you look closely you can see a stream of air coming from the fish's mouth 😁 Ah well, it still looks good from this side!

Note: This deeper display required a different brand of resin. You can find it here on Amazon, and you can read a step by step example of how I use it in this post.

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I hope you enjoyed this how-to post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

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